The Ring
by Jaggie 107
Summary: Harm helps Mac with her plumbing. This was posted as a HBX ChallengeSeptember 07


HBX Challenge : September 2007

Title : The Ring

Author : Jaggie 107

Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount – and I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.

Summary : Harm helps with Mac's plumbing.

Spoilers : AU story, around time Harriet was pregnant with twins. (S9/10)

Harm: You want to talk about it?  
Mac: Not particularly.  
Harm: I'm sorry I left you there.  
Mac: If you hadn't we'd probably both be dead by now.

_(Full Engagement)_

**Friday Afternoon**

"You want to talk about it?" Harm leaned in the doorway to Mac's office with his hands on the framework, his arms bracing his 6'4" frame as he noted the dark look on her face.

"Not particularly," answered Mac, her voice as dark as her look, both distinctly unwelcoming. Harm made a move to back away, but froze as Mac looked up at him, and spoke. "What is it with men? They can't give you a straight answer!"

"Are we talking in general, or in particular?"

"In particular," Mac responded, and then glanced up in time to see an expression cross Harm's handsome features before disappearing as he gave a non-committal shrug of his broad shoulders. "Not you…" she added softly, getting to her feet and coming around the desk. Harm dropped his hands from the framework and flexed his fingers, not quite sure what to do with himself now as Mac came closer. "I'm sorry, Harm. Honestly, I wasn't talking about you…and me…"

"That's okay, Mac. So…um…who is in the firing line?"

"My plumber. I have a blockage in my kitchen and I've got AJ and Jimmy this weekend to give Harriet a break. I need to get the darned thing fixed and my regular plumber is unobtainable. I'm going to have to cancel on Harriet, and she so needed this time off."

"I can help with that," Harm offered, and Mac shook her head.

"I couldn't impose…you must have plans, this weekend, um…" Mac began to protest, but Harm shook his head.

"Nothing doing. I'm a free agent."

Mac paused a beat too long, and Harm backed off. But he didn't get far. Mac's hand on his arm stopped his retreat.

"What exactly are you offering help with? The plumbing, or the kids?" she asked, the smile on her lips reaching her eyes – the first time for a long time.

"Both. When are you due to get the kids?"

"Bud and Harriet are dropping them by this evening, then picking them up on Sunday, late afternoon. I just need to call and get supplies for the weekend, and then we can spend time in the park tomorrow."

"I can go to your apartment and get started on the plumbing. If we have a take-out tonight, that will make things easier."

"Sounds good…for us…um, the kids will have been fed already." Mac faltered a little, and Harm wondered if she was regretting having him come over.

"What is the problem in the kitchen anyway?"

"Um…awful smell, and a slow running tap."

"Okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. No plans, honest."

"I mean, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Mac bit her lip delicately between her even white teeth, and Harm coughed to hide the sudden closing in his throat. _Oh, to be that sliver of skin… _"Harm?"

"Huh?" Caught out, Harm racked his brain for the last piece of the conversation they were having. "You mean, you don't remember me doing out my apartment myself?" he recovered magnificently, giving Mac the trademark eyebrow raise and signature Rabb grin.

Mac grinned in response, fishing in her purse for her keys and standing up when she saw a familiar set dangling from a different key chain. "You still have them?" she murmured, recognizing the spare set of keys she had given Harm years before.

"Yeah," Harm murmured, and Mac looked at him closely.

"That's good, you can let yourself in then," she murmured, lowering her head to zip her purse and give herself time for a quick mental hug at the thought that he still cared enough…

**Friday Evening**

Harm watched as Mac tucked AJ and Jimmy into the bed in her guest room. Her hand drifted gently over each tousled head, stroking the thick blond hair there – Harriet's legacy – before a finger tip brushed AJ's cheek and then she stood up and walked back to the door.

"Little angels when they're sleeping, huh?"

Mac smiled wordlessly and walked away as Harm closed the door behind him and went back to the kitchen.

….

Mac sat on the counter top as Harm fiddled under her sink.

"Need anything, sailor?"

"Not right…ow!" Harm slid out from under the piping and Mac put a hand over her mouth to stop the laugh getting out. Harm was sporting a scratch on his finger that was bleeding and the laugh turned to a worried yelp.

"Harm! You're hurt! Omigosh, let me find the first aid kit."

"It's an assault course under there, Mac. What's in there?"

"Nothing much. The piping, and the cleaning stuff."

"And something that scratches…"

"I can't imagine what," Mac murmured, her head buried in a cabinet as she searched for the small green box that housed her first aid supplies. Harm bit back a groan at the jean-clad six that moved in his eye-line as he sat back against the kitchen units waiting for Mac to find what she was looking for. Turning back to face Harm, green box in hand, she instructed him to put out the injured digit. He did so, his fist still closed. Mac looked at him, waiting for him to unclench his hand.

"I can't clean it properly with your hand closed in a fist, Harm," she protested, and he uncurled his fingers, palm up, showing the object that had caused the scratch. A lump of very mangled metal and a stone… "_My ring…"_

"You threw it in the garbage disposal?" Harm had to ask. Mac nodded.

"When I got back from the Guadalcanal, you and I…weren't…I didn't…" Mac faltered, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. "You said what you did to Sturgis, at the elevator just before the Jagathon…and when I got back here I just got so mad…I threw the first thing that came to hand, which happened to be the ring box. I was going to send it back to…to Mic…but after that it wasn't possible…I'd figured the garbage disposal would have destroyed it, and so I forgot about it."

"Bad memories?" Harm sounded hopeful, and Mac glanced at him.

"I didn't want any reminders…"

"Of Mic?"

"Of what I'd thrown away." Mac whispered, her eyes filling with unshed tears. "I'm sorry I left you there…"

"Where?" Harm wasn't sure what Mac was trying to say, but he was sure it would all make sense soon.

"In my quarters, on the ship…" Mac clarified, and then Harm knew. They were about to make a momentous move – either forward or back - depending on what he said to her in return. Reaching a tentative hand to cup a tear-stained cheek, Harm answered softly, but with a smile on his lips and in his voice.

"If you hadn't we'd probably both be dead by now."

"Dead?" Mac sounded shocked, not understanding what Harm was telling her.

"If you'd stayed, you would have heard me say 'yes'… Yes, I would give up Renee, to have you."

"Oh…" Mac murmured, the horror at his previous statement faded as she processed this new train of thought. Harm leaned forward and whilst the smile on his face spoke of humor, his eyes spoke of love.

"Once I'd said 'yes', I would have closed the hatch to your quarters, and kept you in there until we made up, made love, or died trying. Now you see…?"

"_Yes…" _Mac's eyeslit up as everything in her world righted itself. Harm leaned forward, gently, not taking anything for granted, but as Mac raised herself at the same time to him their lips met and sealed. For very long moments there was no sound anywhere in the apartment. Then…

"Um…Harm?"

"Yes?"

"There is such a thing as 'un petit mort', the little death..."

"Oh?"

Mac giggled, whispering in his ear, explaining just 'what' the words meant, and when she pulled back to see his face, Harm's expressive eyes had darkened, the desire in his matching the same need in her own.

"Mac…_Sarah_…" Harm began, but Mac shushed him with a finger on his lips.

"It's okay, I _know_. I love you too, Harm…"

THE END


End file.
